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I live on a estate where very few people feed the birds and was taken aback when my little girl said to me one day "mummy, why can I never hear any birds singing, where can we get some singing birds from" and those comments really hit home and we resolved as a family to get the birds singing again. So, armed with every feeder and variety of bird food under the sun and a lovely bird bath, we set up a bird enticing environment at the bottom of our little garden. Initially, we only seemed to manage to attract seemingly endless amounts of Pigeons and Starlings, but we persisted. By the end of the summer last year we had large flcks of House and Tree Sparrows at which my daughter would take great delight at their cheeky little dust baths amoungst my flower beds. Our absolute joy has been Autumn/Winter 2009/10. The birds are singing again !! We now have at least 10 Blue tits at a time, Great Tits, 4 Robins fighting a couple of days ago, Song Thrushes, a Redwing and a Redpoll, Sparrowhawks and a Red Kite. I put up 3 different nest boxes Autumn last year not expecting any results only to find to my absolute delight this morning that all 3 are being used. Two have been taken by the Blue Tits and a lovely Robin spends most of the day sitting on my terracotta nest pot. I have been so overwhelmed at how so much of a difference we each individually can make. When I walk the children to and from school the Estate is so quiet until we reach home, and it's then that you can really hear the birds singing.
Apologies. not sure that this should have been posted on this forum. Please excuse me i'm new to all this.
Unknown said: With regards to the school, I was going ti try to get hold of some information from the RSPB and hopefuly get the kids involved in the Birdwatch but they are not interested. We printed off loads information for them highlighting declining species and hoped that this along with the bad weather may have helped them into a change of heart but no luck. My daughter used to get picked on because she used to spend her lunchtimes watching the birds on the playing field and would used to try to sneak the Wagtails a bit of her lunch now and then for which she got a detention. I don't think that the two of us on our own even with all the will in the world will change their attitudes but at least we tried.
With regards to the school, I was going ti try to get hold of some information from the RSPB and hopefuly get the kids involved in the Birdwatch but they are not interested. We printed off loads information for them highlighting declining species and hoped that this along with the bad weather may have helped them into a change of heart but no luck. My daughter used to get picked on because she used to spend her lunchtimes watching the birds on the playing field and would used to try to sneak the Wagtails a bit of her lunch now and then for which she got a detention. I don't think that the two of us on our own even with all the will in the world will change their attitudes but at least we tried.
Well I'm disgusted and deeply saddened by this attitude! How can we possibly expect future generations to look after and have a better respect for nature when it is positively discouraged like it! A detention indeed! Unbelievable!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
We've taken the matter into our own hands lol...she stuffs her coat pocket with suet pellets as they are a bit harder for the teachers to spot in the long grass, and sprinkles them around. It wouldn't hurt them to put up a little nest box. The ground they own is so vast and would be so beneficial to the children. The kids are going to be thrilled when I tell them about the nest boxes today. Out of interest, can you have several families of Blue Tits nesting in one garden as i'm thinking of putting up another box. One o the Blue Tits was just trying to get in my butterfly box lol
Not an expert on blue tits, but I think that will most species, the quantity of nesting pairs depends on food availability! So if plenty of food is readily available (as with you) then several pairs should nest quite happily!
It is such a shame that your daughter has had to learn to be 'deceitful' so that she can feed the birds. I think the school would say that to have bird food around would encourage vermin. Strange how schools differ, especially when we are educating people about climate change and it's affect upon wildlife.
Thank you MarJus. Have 1 nest box 28mm hole 1 32mm and a 32mm terracotta nest pot. I'm a bit worried i haven't done enough. the Blue tits go in all three, but have seen a Robin sitting on the terracotta one so not sure if it's staking it's claim to that one or not. I guess i'm worried that as only one of them is small enough to let only Blue Tits in, will large numbers of other birds who are also looking for nesting sites, pose arisk to Blue tits that have taken to nesting in the other larger boxes. Should i put covers over the other entrances to reduce the hole size or just leave be ??
Brenda: yes you are correct. The schools response was due to vermin but I don't accept that as an excuse. there are ways and means of them feeding the birds that will lessen that risk. I think they were just after an easy way out.
Hi Lynette, and welcome to the forum. I congratulate you and your daughter for what you are doing, and give a big thumbs down to the head teacher, who could do with some educating herself.
I can't answer your question about nesting boxes and blue tits, but suggest you start another thread and ask the question. There are plenty of experts on the forum who will know the answer.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Thank you Sparrow. Will have to try to do some more research. Might call the RSPB see what they suggest. Remember hearing on Spring Watch about a Great Tit getting into a nest that a Blue Tit had made and the Blue Tit abandoned the chicks so i'm eager to not let that happen. Which is why I purchased several sizes, but didn't expect the Blue Tits to take to them all. I guess it just goes to show how valuable nesting sites are.
Hi Lynette and welcome, thanks for sharing your story with us. "Your" birds must have been soooo grateful to you during all the cold weather. Keep up the good work.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Unknown said: We've taken the matter into our own hands lol...she stuffs her coat pocket with suet pellets as they are a bit harder for the teachers to spot in the long grass, and sprinkles them around. It wouldn't hurt them to put up a little nest box. The ground they own is so vast and would be so beneficial to the children. The kids are going to be thrilled when I tell them about the nest boxes today. Out of interest, can you have several families of Blue Tits nesting in one garden as i'm thinking of putting up another box. One o the Blue Tits was just trying to get in my butterfly box lol
We have two boxes that are used regularly by blue or great tits - but one is in the front garden and one in the back garden. We installed a third box a couple of years ago, but this hasn't been so successful. Your daughter might like to look at our website where there are lots of photos taken by internal and external cameras - since 2001!!! www.biggonline.co.uk
The webcams are back in action too (all 7 of them), and we've seen birds in all three boxes - though things are rather quiet at the moment, of course.